Harry Watkins

Harry Watkins (14 January 1825-5 January 1894) was an American actor, theatre manager, and playwright in 19th century New York City.

Biography
Harry Watkins was born in New York City, New York in 1825, and he began his acting career in 1845 and kept a diary from 1845 to 1860, detailing the theatre scene of the mid-19th century. In 1857, he became the manager of P.T. Barnum's theatrical shows at his American Museum on Broadway, and he and his wife performed in England from 1860 to 1863. In 1862, he returned to the Five Points of Manhattan to perform a dramatization of Uncle Tom's Cabin while dressed as Abraham Lincoln, but, when he called for the character Mr. Legree to lay down his whip and for the slave Topsy to cradle Uncle Tom as he died, nativists in the crowd called for him to let Uncle Tom die, and, led by William Cutting, they began to chant "Down with the Union!" as they pelted Watkins and the performers with rotten vegetables. Watkins went on to author more than 25 plays by 1889, and he died in 1894.